Ballot-box



(No Model.) 7

P. ZUOKRIEGEL. BALLOT BOX.

No. 532,515. Patented J55. .15, 1 95.

. WM. Z 2 Gbtozmua/QW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER ZUCKRIEGEL, OF TELL CITY, INDIANA.

BALLOT-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters IPatent No. 532,516, dated January 15, 1895. Application filed February 15, 1892. sin-n1 No. 421,526. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, PETER ZUCKRIEGEL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Tell City, in'the county of Perry and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ballot-Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a ballot box which can be readily arranged for use and readily folded for shipping or storage. Its object is also to provide a simple means to secure and doubly lock the box, when unfolded or set up for use.

I will first give a detailed description of my invention referring for precision to the accompanying drawings in which like parts are indicated by similar reference letters wherever they occur throughout the various views, and will then particularly point out in the claims the parts andcombinationsl have invented.

Figure l. is a perspective view of my ballot box set up for use. One corner of the end panel is shown broken away to expose the groove in the end rails which receive the end panels and securely hold them. Fig. 2. is a,

transverse sectional view of the box folded for storage or shipment. Fig. 3. is a plan view of the devices for holding the box in its unfolded position, drawn upon an enlarged:

scale. Fig. 4. is a transverse sectional view taken through the meeting rails of the box front and top and along the edge of the hasp plates. Fig. 5. is a plan view or inside elevation of the female hasp plate. similar view of the male hasp. Fig. 7. is an edge elevation of hasp securing bars. Fig. 8. is a longitudinal sectional view of the interlocked ends of a slightly modified form of the bars. Fig. 9. is a detail view in perspective of a portion of the unhinged edges of the top and front meeting rails folded as in Fig. 2 and upon a greatly enlarged scale showing the hasp members in position.

The top, bottom,front and back sides of the box are composed of paneled frames and have their edges beveled at an angle of forty-five degrees to form miter joints. The frames are all of the same length. The top and bottom B, are of the same width so as to form a rectangular box when arranged for use as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 6. is a opposite bar.

The side and end walls of the frames A, B, C and D have their inner edges grooved to receive thin panels, and the frames are preferably secured together by mortise and tenon joints. The box therefore is formed of four paneled frames and the removable end panels, E, which are held in grooves in the inner faces of the frames when the box is closed, as seen in Fig. 1. When the box is open, these panels are removed and placed between the outside panels of the frames AO, BD, when the box is folded back upon itself and laid out flat, as seen in Fig. 2.

The unhinged mitered edges of the rails a and c of the top frame, A,and front frame, 0, are longitudinally gained or grooved, forminga mortised opening when the meeti ng edges come together, through which the locking bars, G, may be passed from opposite ends, overlapping each other as they pass through the groove. These meeting edges are also transversely gained upon the opposite and inside faces to embed the securing plates of H, and the staple or male of the hasp, H,

which passes through the female member, the inner faces of the hasp portions being practically embedded in the mitered edges below the longitudinal groove, so as to allow the free passage of the bars, through the hasps (of which there are preferably three employed) to lock the meeting edges together. The locking bars G, are alike in construction eachbeing provided with a loop 9, turned at a right angle to the face of the bar, and the opposite end of each is perforated to receive the yoke 2', of the padlocks I. The bars G are passed through the way formed by the longitudinal gains in the rails a, c, and through the staples h, of the hasps, from the opposite ends of the rails, the perforated ends of each bar passing through the loop g, of the Thelock-yokes arethen passed through the perforations, in the ends of the bars G, and locked in position. The look yoke passing through the perforation in one bar, outside of the loop, g, in the bar, upon each end, prevents the withdrawal of either bar until both locks are removed. Each lock requires a different key to open it. After the ICC sence of both ofiicers is necessary, so that the ballots cannot be tampered with by one party in the absence of the officer of the other.

To set up the box for use the frames are unfolded or placed out flat, the end panels E, placed in the grooves in the rails of the bottom, the front, back and top folded around the end panels, the bars passed through the gains in rails a, c, from opposite ends and locked against retraction.

WVhen the box is folded up as seen in Fig. 2. the end panels are placed upon the side or top and bottom panels.

The sides, top and bottom of the box may of course be made solid instead of paneled, and if it is desirable to make the box knock down instead of folding, loose pintled hinges may be employed instead of the butt hinges shown.

It is also obvious that the particular form of hasps may be varied or even plain staple plates be secured in the gains of rails a, a, but the locking bars G, should have an enlarged end to prevent them from being withdrawn from either end so as to insure the presence of two persons to prevent fraud when the box is to be opened.

In the form shown in Figs. 3 and 7 the enlarged ends are formed by a separate loop or link, secured in the bent ends of the bar G, by soldering or other well known means. In the form shown in Fig. 8 the loops are integral with the bars, formed so by first punching a transverse slot through one end of each of the bars, large enough to receive the smaller end of the opposite bar, after which the slotted end is bent to the form shown.

panels, hinges uniting three of said mitered meeting edges, the removable panels forming the end closures of the box when set up, and adapted to lie within the frames upon the fixed panels when folded, the hasps, H and H, of the fourth mitered meeting edge of said frames, the plurality of locking bars to pass between said mitered edges and the loops of the said hasps, and locks to hold the locking bars together, substantially as shown and described.

2. The combination, in a ballot box, of the paneled top, bottom and side frames having mitered edges, the hinges secured upon the mitered edges, uniting said frames, the ends of said frames being grooved to receive removable panels, removable panels fitting said grooves and forming the end closures of the box, the mitered locking edges of said box, being longitudinally grooved to pass locking bars from the opposite ends, hasps secured upon the oposite locking edges, one male and the other female, to pass one through the other across said meeting edges, the locking bars having a loop at one end and a perforation at the opposite end, the perforated end of each bar passing through the loop in the opposite bar when the bars are passed through the locking edges of the staples, and locks to pass through the perforated ends outside of the loops and lock the box, substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination of the paneled frames, A-B, CD, having mitered edges and their end faces grooved to receive removable panels, the hinges, F, secured upon the mitered edges and uniting said frames, the removable end panels adapted to fit grooves and form the end closure of the box when set up, the looking rails a, o of the panels A, 0, being longitudinally grooved and transversely gained across said groove to receive locking hasps, the locking bars, G, having loops, g, and perforated at their opposite ends, adapted to pass through the mortise formed by the groove in the locking rails and through the hasps, staples to hold the locking edges together, and the padlocks passing through the perforated ends of the locking bars outside of the loops, to prevent the retraction of the bars, substantially as shown and described.

PETER ZUOKRIEGEL.

Witnesses:

Gno. J. MURRAY, FRANK S. DAVIS. 

